Carina and the Six String Preacher - Liquid Think (2013)

First off I must tell a bit of a back story about the copy of Liquid Think that I received from The Six String Preacher (Vince). Vince invited me to the Sportmen’s Tavern CD release party for Liquid Think (Thank You Vince!) awhile back and I couldn’t attend. I had to visit Vince in person and ask him for a copy to review and Vince was gracious enough to forward me a copy of the CD (once again, Thank You Vince).

I have reviewed music that Vince has composed before and Vince was excited to read my review of Liquid Think. I still have many CD’s to review so trying to get ahead of the game I forwarded my copy of Liquid Think to a friend of mine. My friend agreed to review the CD but unbeknownst to me my friend decided to forward the copy I gave him to a friend of his. So my attempt to get ahead brought me two steps back instead. I did not copy Liquid Think to my computer so I had to pay Vince for a new copy. I was happy to pay Vince but at the same time I was annoyed that I didn’t copy the CD before I gave away my copy to my friend.

Now on with the review, Liquid Think is at first listen a jazz based CD with torch light singer vocals. But Liquid Think goes way beyond torch light jazz in it’s musical scope. Carina & The Six String Preacher (C.S.S.P.) feature a couple of acoustic duo songs, a rockabilly song and a couple of melodic rock songs on Liquid Think.

Here’s a little background on torch light singers, they’re usually female and Billie Holiday immediately comes to mind when I think of torch light singing. She was singing along with jazz musicians in the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s. Carina sings in a similar style to Billie Holiday and current jazz and rockabilly singer Imelda May. Les Paul and Mary Ford come to mind and C.S.S.P. can be compared to the very successful pop/jazz guitar duo from the 50’s. C.S.S.P. combine retro, jazz styles, some pop sensibility and smooth as silk vocals to create a unique sound all their own. (new genre…Nu-Lounge?…jazz-noir.)

Liquid Think starts off with Champagne, Smoke, and a Light. The jazzy, guitar chord progression reminded me of the song, Stray Cat Strut when I first heard it. Carina’s vocals are sweet and sultry and she even takes a scatting vocal solo during the opening track. The vocal sound is unique, maybe they were sung through a Shure 55 microphone?